andiesenji

I have never had them any way except pan-fried. The seasonings are individual, not exactly regional. I have eaten them in many places and when I had them in Louisiana, some were spicy, some were not. I happen to like them with just a bit of spiciness.

I have a hose right outside my kitchen door with a high pressure nozzle and I just blast the stuff out with it. I do make sure to clean it immediately after use. That is the most important thing. If I have something extremely fatty I spray inside and out with the Dawn Power Dissolver.

Jane Fisk made the cake for her daughter's wedding. details here! And here is another one, somewhat smaller and greener. and several other cakes, including an orc's head.

AhHa! a Larry Niven fan!

The newer ones have clear plastic cups that fit over the top of the area where the diced onion will end up. available from ChefsCatalog.com

You too? ← Me too! I think some of mine have migrated into L-Space. Many are in storage, in metal footlockers, with a list of all the books laminated onto the end. I converted one bedroom into a library and one entire wall of shelves holds cookbooks, plus a bunch of rare old ones, first editions, signed, etc., in barrister's bookcases. (I have a lot of other types of books too.) The shelved ones are sorted by author and by regional, ethnic, type of food, type of cookbook (church/charity/Jr. League/etc.) I have a bunch of favorites here in my office and then there are the stacks here and there on the floor, next to a chair or couch, in a box to be sorted, and I just noticed 6 that for some reason are in a garden trug on a work table and apparently they have been there for some time because there are several magazine stacked on top of them. (I am the bane of my housekeeper's existance, she likes everything neat and I am always leaving stacks of books here and there and everywhere.)

I don't see why not. They might be a little sticky/greasy to handle for a while afterward. But I think the mineral oil would also help them to stay in good condition. ← I can give you a little helpful hint if you have a vacuum sealer. Apply the oil - be generous - place the rolling pin and whatever else (I treat my wooden spoons and other utensils this way) in the bag - which you have already sealed at one end. Leave at least 8 inches of empty bag beyond where the wood is. Vacuum seal it at the very end. Leave it alone for a day, cut the sealed end off, re-apply the oil and run the thing through the vacuum sealer again. Leave it overnight again. If the wood is still very absorbant repeat this step again. Remove the wood things from the bag and wipe well with a soft, absorbant cloth. Wrap in paper towels and allow to rest for a day or so. The final step is to rub them with dry cornstarch then wipe again with a soft cloth. The cornstarch will absorb just the oil on the surface.

I usually bake them about a week ahead of time. Depending on how much time I have. I also sometimes bake them a month or so ahead and freeze them tightly wrapped (now in the "Release" aluminum foil - I used to use waxed paper then the foil) and then in the Jumbo plastic zip close bags. This cake freezes very well. If you cook the glaze until it is almost like candy, and paint in on all over the exposed surface, it forms a sort of shell which keeps the cake nicely moist. When I make it as a Bundt cake, I use one of the "keepers" made for that type of cake and find that it works beautifully to keep the cake fresh. The first one I bought was 25.99 but they have come down in price significantly. Amazon has it for 14.99 and they are worth every penny.

I order Odlums online, in fact, I just placed an order a couple of days ago for some from the place I get the Kerrygold butter - they have a "deal" for a bulk order and since I use so much, it works for me, even with paying extra for the shipping. I got an email notice that it will be delivered tomorrow. Food Ireland.com The Kerrygold deal If you look under the "Breakfast" heading, you will see other stuff I order. The sausages, the bacon, - - - Oh God, I have no willpower at all............ there are a couple of other sources for Odlums, I will have to look at the bookmarks in my old browser.

Check this topic, which goes into the various details of roasted beets!

Note that the recipe I posted does not contain any butter. There is enough fat in commercial buttermilk to give the tenderness once only achieved with cutting butter into the flour.

You are 100% correct, thom. I have several books on the subject, "Biscuits and Scones" "Crumpets and Scones" and "Simply Scones" and they all include a basic recipe without sugar. These were originally meant to be dropped on a hot "girdle" (this is not misspelled) and baked in front of a fire. For years I saved an Odlums Self-Rising flour bag that had a very similar recipe printed on it with a list of variations. 2 cups self-rising flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup buttermilk (1/4 cup sweet milk for glaze) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the measured flour - sifting twice is better, set aside. Mix the baking soda into the buttermilk in a 2-quart bowl. Add about 2/3s of the flour and stir to mix, then add just enough of the remaining flour to make a very soft dough. Sprinkle the remaining flour on a board, turn the dough out onto the board knead and turn the dough juft twice, shape into a round and pat to flatten until about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Using a long knife cut into 8 wedges but do not separate the wedges. Slide the round onto an oiled baking sheet (or use parchement paper). Brush the top with milk or with egg wash. Place baking sheet on center shelf in oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot! You can add any type of dried fruits to this recipe, or sprinkle the top with sugar or cinnamon/sugar, if you wish. They can also be made savory with bacon bits, grated cheese or ?? herbs and spices. I sometimes prepare this simple recipe with chopped sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle the top with coarse salt and dried herbs.

Odd or just plain stupid? Several years ago, while I was still doing some catering, I happened to mention to one of my clients that I was having two steers butchered the following week and could offer her beef ribs, cross cut into 2-inch pieces and barbecued. Her brother, who had been hanging around while we worked on the menu, stopped me as I was leaving and asked if I could save the testicles for him. It took me ten minutes to explain that these were steers and why I couldn't comply with his request. He kept saying, I'm willing to pay for them." I had to practically draw him a picture and tell him they were wacked off the animal at age 12 weeks........

You don't say where you live, Chihiran. It all depends on the type of flour you use and you have to be very sparing in mixing the dough - just mix till blended or they will be tough. Like biscuits, you have to use a very sharp cutter to get the most rise. My great-grandmother taught me a little rhyme about 60 years ago. "If it sounds like stone, it's 'neath the Scot's throne. If it rhymes with gone, its a proper scone!"

I measure cornstarch by spooning it into a dry measure and leveling it if I am use volume measurement. However, most of the recipes in which I use corn starch are measured by weight.

My new Chef's Catalog arrived today. Checking at the web site, I find that they carry the smaller (shallot/garlic) version of the Alligator chopper.

The green plum tomatoes (paste tomatoes) are excellent for chutneys and all the other things you do with regular green tomatoes or those beginning to turn, (or "halfers" as a friend's father, Dominic Campagna - who made the wine I tood to Tejon's going-away party, calls them). Dominic likes to make pickles from the half-green, half-orange tomatoes, split in half. I don't have his recipe but it is not quite as sour as dill and not as sweet as bread and butter. It is similar to the brine found in the sweet Italian peppers.

The best way to avoid this is to roast the garlic for about 20 minutes before you mix it with the other ingredients, particularly any acid.

This brought back memories for me also. I have posted many times in the past about my enthusiasm for cornbread, especially the "southern" type. I also love cookbooks like this. I have Ernest Matthew Mickler's "White Trash Cooking" cookbook and his second cookbook, "Sinkin Spells, Hot Flashes, Fits and Cravins". Which was re-issued as "White Trash Cooking II" A subsequent book "More White Trash Cooking" authored by Trisha Mickler, after Ernest passed away in 1988, has not been quite as well received but is still worth having, if one loves the foods of the plain "down-home" folks. Thanks for posting about this. I just ordered it.

Habaneros can vary in heat with the most Scoville units ever recorded in a Red Savina habanero. It was a chance mutation story here that has made news around the world. There are innumerable sites devoted to chile peppers and there is an email forum if you get hooked. Of course there is Chile Pepper magazine. and our guru, Dave Dewitt Incidentally, I know someone who tried to drive birds away from his small patch of corn by spraying the corn with home made pepper spray, made with habaneros. Birds do not have receptors for capsaicin, in fact they eat the little "bird" peppers such as pequin and tepin. Even following several heavy rains, some of the corn, when harvested, was so hot it was inedible.

I got a pepper at the farmer's market that looked like either a really big habanero or a smallish, bendier-than-usual red bell pepper. I wanted it for a garnish for my gazpacho, so didn't want something really hot. The person I bought it from assured me that it was a sweet (I took that to mean 'not hot') pepper. I cut the top off to pull the seeds out, and took a big bite of the stuff around the stem--flesh with some seeds and white pithy stuff--and it was incredibly hot. Way hotter than a jalapeno or a serrano, so I think it must have been a habanero. I ended up cutting it into very fine dice and using it on my gazpacho, warning the wimpy-tongued to leave it off. I'm not one for super-duper hot stuff, but I think I could have eaten the whole thing without fainting or anything. ← I doubt it was a habanero. The Red Savina contains enough capsaicin to cause blisters if bitten into as you describe. There are several varieties of chiles that look very similar to the habanero. The Aji Dulce 2 can double for a hab but is very sweet and can vary in heat from mild to medium. Another is the Chile Uanero which is also sweet and medium to hot. One that has begun to show up around here, but has been available in the east, according to other chile-heads, is the "red squash" and it has the lobes and other characteristics of the hab but has medium heat. I have grown a lot of habs, experimenting with differernt growing conditions, in a greenhouse, outside in pots, in the ground, less and more water, etc., and the constant traits were thin walls, deep lobes, a burning in the nose as soon as the pepper flesh was cut and the fact that a tiny bit went a long, long way in flavoring a dish. I have also grown Scotch Bonnet which I find "milder" than the hab, and Thai peppers, the very long, thin varieties that are between the SB and the hab. And one odd pepper plant that produced multicolored peppers that was some kind of hybrid that did not breed true. That was by far the hottest pepper I ever came across. I shared them with other chile-heads who also found them incredibly hot. I saved seeds from fruit that I left on the plant until they dropped off and which I shared with others but very few of the seeds sprouted and the plants never produced flowers. You didn't mention the color of the seeds. If it had black seeds, it was one of the Rocoto or Manzano peppers which can vary in heat and are also very sweet, with an apple-like flavor, very fruity. It looks like a small bell pepper, has thick fleshy walls. Red Rocoto from UK Chile-Head database. If you want to try to identify a pepper and the seller can't tell you anything about it, you can check in Graeme Caselton's very extensive UK Chile-Head database. It is the most extensive list that I know of. UK Chile-Head Once you get to the database page, click on a letter to go to the list of pepper names that start with that letter. pepper database and scroll down the list which includes many photos.

Pie crust? Unless I am baking for people who have dietary restrictions, religious or otherwise, I use lard. This has always produced the flakiest and most tender pie crust for me. However, I do render my own or buy the lard that is produced in small batches by specialty producers.

Actually it wasn't so much the substitution of BUTTER that was the concern back then for most home bakers. Butter was expensive (we weren't that long out of the depression and butter was rationed in WWII) and margarine was still iffy, in fact it was still sold in bags, uncolored and with a food colorant "bubble" which one had to massage into the white goop. If you check many cookbooks printed in the 40s and 50s you will see that many of the cake recipes were made with LARD. Charleston Receipts is an anomaly because almost all the recipes it contains were from an earlier era when butter was less expensive and for farm families, homemade. In fact, some of these cookbooks have instructions for beating lard (by hand, no less) in a bowl set in icy water which would have the effect of making it more fluffy and whiter because of the air incorporated into the mass. Many homemakers found shortening to be an acceptable substitute and the fact that it did not become rancid rapidly (as did lard) and the cakes and cookies had a texture similar to those made with butter, was a plus for them. Butter may seem expensive to us today, but if you consider the price in relationship to take-home salaries in those years, it was far more costly back then. I remember well the early '50s when butter was 60 cents a pound while a dozen eggs was just 29 cents, a loaf of bread was 14 cents and a pound of "ground round" was 35 cents. (I have a newspaper with a grocery ad with these prices.) When you consider that the average annual salary for a single earner household was less than 3000.00 that is a significant cost for an ordinary family. At one time margarine was half the cost of butter, the prices have gotten closer together over the years and now the price of margarine is only about 30% less than the price of store brand butter. Of course, the premium butters are more expensive.

I certainly agree with Patrick - Not only in puff pastry but in Danish pastry, in crossiants and other goodies. In fact, I am presently making some whole-wheat shortbread, using the Kerrygold Irish butter (found a place that will ship it in one-pound blocks) and whole-wheat pastry flour. Butter is the ONLY thing to use in this context.

Cookies made with butter spread more in the oven. Cookies made with shortening seem to retain their crispness longer. There are certain advantages to each and this has been debated by cooks and bakers for 50 or 60 years. I just know that there are some cookies I make with butter and some I make with shortening. In all of these cases I have tried both and I came to the conclusion that the recipe authors knew what they were doing when they composed the recipe. This site has answers and advice. Also, certain ingredients have a significant effect. Sugar will keep any bakery item moist and will retard staling. If you can't use sugar, you have to make some adjustments. Oatmeal helps retain moisture - it is the nature of the grain. If you use a sugar substitute - grind some dry oatmeal (or steel-cul oats are even better) in a blender until nearly flour-like in texture. Substitute this as part of the flour, up to 1/4. You will have a result closer to the original and really won't taste the oatmeal.